Slayers' Pride
by Lexville
Summary: After the encounter with Daphne, Natsu grew distrustful fairy tail, sparing only a handful of people in the guild. He'd been contemplating leaving for a long time, but something pushes him over the edge. Follow him as he leaves the guild and starts his own, finds long lost siblings and causing chaos in general. NaWen. Rated M for safety, my first ever story I've written.
1. Chapter 1: Revelations in the Nest

Chapter 1: Revelations in the Nest

To say that Natsu was livid would be an understatement.

Natsu had been sat at the bar in the guild hall for most the evening, taking shots of fire whisky while talking to Mira and Wendy, when his team were getting drunk and partying like there was no tomorrow. This party was intended for him, as he had just woken up from being unconscious for a week after the incident Edolas crisis, with Daphne and the Dragonoid following just afterward thanks to Gray.

 _ **Gray.**_

Natsu shuddered. He didn't want to think about that waste of space, especially after what he had done. He knew what draining the magical container of the body did to a person, and yet he went and sold the fire dragonslayer to what could have been an early grave if he had gotten out a minute later. He had heard all the comments made by his _guildmates_ and had decided that this was the last straw. He would stop trying to be friends with all of them.

It wasn't the first time they had heard them all say that anyway. Most of the guild had forgotten about the dragonslayer's capabilities and their extraordinary senses. He knew what they all thought of the slayers' magic, they thought it was an abomination, but a necessary evil. There were a few that knew otherwise, Gildarts, Levy, the Strauss Siblings and most surprisingly, the Thunder Legion. Although, when Natsu thought about it, he realised that they only knew the truth because of Laxus.

Something caught his ear after he downed his fourth shot of fire whisky. Gray was whining to Erza and Lucy that Juvia would make a better companion than Natsu would. Juvia, being so close by as to not have her 'Gray-sama' stolen by her love rival, squealed at this and jumped into Gray's arms. Normally, the ice mage would have thrown the water mage out of his arms and onto the floor, but he just held her. Lucy almost instantly agreed, based on Lucy could get all her rent together if this was the case, but Erza was more apprehensive. She didn't want to kick the fire dragonslayer off the team, but there wasn't much she could do. Natsu laughed dryly.

"Of course, they would all say that." Natsu sighed. He finished his drink, said his goodbyes to Mira, asked Wendy to meet him outside for a chat in a few minutes before getting up and walking over to Gajeel.

Gajeel almost instantly acknowledged his Alpha's presence. It had been like this ever since he had joined the guild, Gajeel knew the limits of his powers, but Natsu didn't, and that made him the strongest dragonslayer in the guild. He was keeping an eye on Levy from his new table at the back of the guild, where he knew nobody would be looking.

"What'cha want Salamander, I thought you'd be in the brawl by now." Huffed Gajeel in as gruff a tone as he could muster, although he was secretly worried for his alpha, as his trust had been decimated by what Gajeel had assumed was his brother, and he didn't want to destroy it further. Fairy tail was a family after all.

"I don't intend to join the brawl. Not today at least. I came to tell you that you, me, Wendy and our partners are going to make a team" He put his hand up before Gajeel could say anything "Don't fight me on this Black Steel, today is not the day for it." Natsu commanded, turned on his heel, and walked out of the guild. Gajeel hated taking orders, but Natsu was his alpha, and would follow this instruction to the letter.

"I better go speak to sparky if this is how it's going to go down... I doubt salamander would mind the half-baked sparkplug joined our little crew" Gajeel grumbled to himself while getting up and walking towards Laxus.

 _ **-Outside the Guild-**_

"Ah, there you are Natsu-kun. I was waiting for you, like you said I should. I told Carla to go on without me, and Happy followed her with a fish, claiming his love for her, so I guess we're all alone on our walk home tonight huh?" Wendy said quietly, knowing Natsu could hear her. His mood flipped from sour to ecstatic the second he heard her voice. Wendy had moved in with Natsu, much to the chagrin of most of the guild, thinking that he would corrupt her. They had used the pretence that Natsu was going to continue her Sky Dragon Slayer training in place of Grandine, but the two exceed knew differently. Not that Natsu didn't train her of course, it's just that it was for a different reason entirely.

Wendy was Natsu's mate, and the two had realised this when they first locked eyes. For Wendy, it was love at first sight. It took little under a day for Natsu to realise what he felt for Wendy, and this was the day that she found out her old guild was created just for her, and would disappear once she left. Natsu was heartbroken seeing Wendy cry for the first time, and had decided it was his life's mission to never see her cry out of sadness ever again. He had Lucy what this had meant at the time, and Lucy just replied with a simple "You love her Natsu." With no emotion in her voice.

Natsu knew that Lucy saw him as a romantic interest, it's just that he was not interested. She was more like a sister to him. By the time, they had all got back to the guild, Natsu had decided to tell Wendy everything, and came up with an excuse for them to use as well. They both knew the guild wouldn't understand, save for the few that understood their kind of magic, so they decided to hide it.

The first night that Wendy spent at Natsu's house in the middle of the forest, Natsu had marked her, and she marked him. They both had a mark above their collarbone of two dragons encircling each other, one looking like pure fire and the other looking more like a bird than a dragon from the feathers it had. This was their mark, however to make sure that the guild didn't realise, Natsu had covered it up with his scarf, and wouldn't let it show.

Their mating ritual would not be complete until Wendy's 18th birthday, was the compromise they gave Carla before starting, as to finish the dragon slayer mating ritual Natsu would have to take Wendy's virginity, and the female exceed hated the thought of Wendy growing up.

He kissed her cheek. "Yeah, I'm here now Wendy, shall we get going? I think if we stand here any longer I'm going to go insane from not moving" Natsu exclaimed with his signature grin. They started to move towards the forest of magnolia, where Natsu's shack was located.

"So Natsu-kun, what should we have for dinner tonight? I was thinking of making some flaming steak with a side of noodles and fresh peas, but for that we'd have to stop at the market."

"That would be nice, it's been a while since we've had to shop for food anyway, we're getting low on all of our supplies. Happy was crying all week as I told him he now can't just buy fish all the time without second thought." Natsu said with a grin, as he knew Wendy was one of the best cooks he would ever know, rivalling Mira's skill at cooking, not that anyone else would find out. She took the time to learn everything after Grandine had disappeared, as she didn't know if she would be abandoned again and wanted to become self-sustainable if the unthinkable happened, not that it would with Natsu around now anyway.

"Hai, Natsu-kun. I'll do my best to cook you the best food you've ever had in your life!" Wendy proclaimed with a grin, and then giggled. The two then walked into the market in comfortable silence, bought what they needed, and went home.

 _ **-At Natsu's House -**_

Once we got back to their shack in the woods, Wendy went to start cooking as Natsu had been complaining about hunger ever since they had gotten out of the market district. They didn't talk much on the way home, the odd comment on how Natsu lived in the woods and how Wendy wouldn't be able to stand living in the town due to her dragon senses, especially if she had to share an entire building with people from the guild, even if she could get great blackmail material out of it. There was a lot about the youngest Dragonslayer the guild didn't know, she had a knack for mischief that Natsu just HAD to nurture.

"Natsu-kun, Dinner is almost ready, get Happy and Carla off each other and set the table or I'm eating your portion~" Wendy almost sang as she heard the crash of two exceed from their hammock in the bedroom and the scuffle of feet down the hall. She knew this was the only way to get him to do anything and she loved it, bribe Natsu with food then threaten to take it away from him, at least until they could start doing more… mature activities when they were old enough anyway.

Wendy took the food to the table and frowned. "Ne, Natsu-kun. You've looked like upset since we left the guild, is everything okay?" She had noticed that the Natsu that was talked about fondly in the guild wasn't the same as the one she saw, and wondered if he had hidden stuff from the guild that he felt he could trust her with

"How would you feel about making a team with just the Dragon Slayers on it?" Natsu asked in an exited voice, almost guaranteeing her answer before he could even look up and take in Happy's shocked expression.

"But Natsu, what will happen to Team Natsu! You guys have been through loads since Lushy came to the guild, and you guys always had lots of fish for me when we went on missions, if you leave team Natsu then I won't be able to get my fish!" Happy pouted.

Natsu sighed dramatically, knowing it would get the exceeds attention. "Happy, do you really think I'd leave you on that team? Of course, you can join, you as well Carla. The bond between Slayer and Exceed is close to the bond between both mates, you cannot break it. It would be like me burning my mark off if I was to leave you behind, and all four of us know I would rather die before severing my mate mark. It means more to me than my guild stamp. Besides, I'm sure that Pantherlily would join as well. And I'm sure if I _asked_ nice enough then Laxus would also bring his Thunder Legion along for the ride"

Wendy was the next to speak, voicing Carla's doubts before even saying them. "Of course, I would Natsu-kun! But how will the rest of Team Natsu react when they realise that the person the team is named after is no longer there? We both know that you aren't on good terms with the walking icicle, but Lucy-san would be upset, and Erza-san would just try and knock you out and force you to re-join the team."

At this point, Natsu frowned, gritted his teeth and growled. "They don't want me on that team anyway. Gray said today that he would replace me with Juvia the first chance he got. He forgot about our dragon slayer hearing and probably thought that I wouldn't be able to hear him. I'm more surprised at how you didn't hear him Wendy" he paused, noticing Wendy's blush.

"Natsu-kunn~ Don't tease me like that, it's mean you know". Hearing this made him grin. "Sorry Wendy, He was talking very loud though, I'm sure that the entirety of magnolia could hear him. So why don't we take the chance for him and make sure they can't hurt us more than they can already."

"Okay Natsu-kun, if that is what you want. You are the alpha after all, you should know what's best. If you think that the four of us should team up with Gajeel-san and even Laxus-san, then I'll agree with it." She said slyly, in mock submission. "Besides, I trust my mate can keep me safe" She winked and blew a kiss at Natsu, making him blush.

"Ne, if you want to go for a shower Wendy, go, and I'll clean up and get the Movie lacrima started, you said on the way back you wanted to watch that new film about the princess and the dragon?" Natsu smirked and winked at her, knowing she'd blush.

Wendy giggled and walked into my arms, which curled around her into a hug. "Natsu-kun, we watch that one almost every week! How about we watch something a little more adventurous?" She smirked as she kissed the tip of his nose. "How about you pick something different out tonight, while I'm gone for a shower hmm?"

Natsu smirked. "Alright Wendy, I'll pick something out that I'm sure you'll like. Also, did Happy and Carla leave to the bedroom again? I swear, they must think we're denser than a block of iron if they think we've not noticed by now." He heard Happy's scream from across the house while Carla just shouted back "I am not doing anything of the sort with the Tom-cat! I just don't want to be in a room where you two keep snuggling all evening and are too handsy! Hmph!"

And so, another night went by in the Dragneel-Marvell household where the two slayers were curled on the couch sleeping soundly, while the two exceed were curled up in the hammock, hoping tomorrow would be better for all of them.


	2. Chapter 2: Ruins of the Nest

Chapter 2: Ruins of the Nest

The next day didn't go the way they were all hoping to.

Natsu was the first person to wake, as is the norm in their house. Natsu went out for his 2-hour run around magnolia, as he does every morning. Once he got back to the house, he found Wendy awake cooking breakfast. He took a shower, knowing Wendy wouldn't take too long to cook, and woke the exceed. Breakfast was relatively quiet, knowing what was going to go down today when they got to the guild. Natsu spoke first.

"Happy, Carla, when we get to the guild, can you two grab Lily and Gajeel and head straight over to the request board? Once me and Wendy are done speaking with our old team, we should go on a mission to give us some space so I don't pound their faces into the ground. I have a feeling today will get ugly. ".

"Aye sir! You can count on us! We'll get the best mission you can think of, with a good reward so we can buy loads of fish! Then I can finally woo Carla and show her that all cats love fish and that she does too!" Happy exclaimed, while floating off into his own little world of Carla and Fish. If anyone had taken the time to look at Carla, you'd be able to see her sporting a massive blush and looking away muttering "Stupid tom-cat…"

Wendy looked over to Natsu, who was still eating his breakfast. "Ne, Natsu-kun. How long a job should they pick out, I think it might be an idea to know that beforehand so we can pack now."

"I don't think we should be gone for more than a week, we've still got our S-Class exams coming up. Speaking of which, want to be my partner if I get picked? I usually take Happy, but I guess he's going to be busy with Carla the entire time. And besides, I want to have my mate close by when I get to S-Class." Natsu looked towards Wendy and saw that she was blushing up a storm.

"Natsu-kunn~ What did I say about teasing me~ Its not fairr!" She pouted "Aww come on Wendy you know I didn't mean it!" Wendy went scarlet red and whined "Let's just go to the guild Natsu-kun, I feel like we should get this over and done with before they come looking for us, we're late enough as it is"

 _ **-Outside the Guild, Natsu's POV-**_

I grinned softly toward Wendy, who smiled at me back. That was all I needed to know she had my back in this, and she wasn't going to run on me when I needed her in this. I looked back toward the guild doors, and instantly lost my grin.

"Happy, Carla, you know what you've got to do right? You don't stop for anyone except the Mira, Levy or Master. Go straight to Gajeel and tell him what we're doing and what kind of mission you need to pick. And see if you can get him to grab sparky on the way there too." I looked towards the exceed, and they just nodded, no smile present on either of their faces.

"You ready Wendy? We can't go back after this, once we're out of Team Natsu, we're gone for good."

"I know Natsu-kun, but if they don't want you there then they've instantly lost me, Happy and Carla for good too. It seems harsh, but I value my mate above everything and I go where you go." Wendy said with her lips pursed into a small line of determination. I pulled her into a hug and kissed her passionately. "Let's do this."

We turned toward the door, and we both kicked it open. Happy and Carla were gone the second we had both our feet on the ground, and by the time we had got inside the building, they were by our table talking to Lily and Gajeel. Our eyes met, he nodded at me and got up and started moving toward the request board. I took a deep breath in and locked eyes with the walking popsicle.

I started walking towards him, while wisps of smoke started forming at the base of my heels and the knuckles of my fists. He knew what was coming, he had witnessed this before. So, had Erza, so had Lucy. The rest of the guild was silent, not knowing what I was about to do. They took one look at me, after a look of shock registered on their faces, they were on their feet with angry auras around them, ready to swing at me in a moment's notice. I wasn't going to give them that satisfaction though, I was going to come out on top, like I always do.

Makarov halted my advance with the next few words. "Today, we're going to announce the S class participants for this year's S class Trials." I looked towards Wendy, my piercing gaze softening when it met hers, she shrugged and went to sit next to Gajeel and Levy. I went and sat next to her, close enough to speak to the three of them but not too close.

"Hey shit for flames, why don't you come sit with us, your _team_." I could almost feel the sneer from cross the room.

Makarov turned enlarged his foot barely centimetres away from where grey was sitting and slammed it down while yelling "Shut up brat! Or I won't call out the next participants for the exam! NOW YOU BRATS, the following people are going to be participating!"

"Gray Fullbuster!" "All right! Time to finally become S Class"

"Cana Alberona!" "This year is my year"

"Freed Justine!" "I will not lose to you all, only then can I present myself to Laxus-sama"

"Juvia Lockster" "I will win for my Gray-Sama!"

"Elfman Strauss" "S Class is MAN!"

"Levy Mcgarden" "What? I could be S class?!"

"And Mest Gryder!" "Unsurprising."

Makarov sighed, watching my eyes widening in surprise, before swiftly putting in a few more words. "You all have a month to get your partners together and train for the exam. Your partner cannot be anyone from outside the guild or an S class wizard, those are the only restrictions. You are all to be in Hargeon at midday on the first day of Autumn or you are immediately disqualified, that is all."

"What the hell gramps! Why wasn't I picked for the exams?!" I shouted at Makarov, only for him to ignore me while drinking his beer that had appeared out of nowhere. I was furious, but I felt a small tugging at my scarf. I turned to Wendy seeing a smile that resembled sympathy and pity on her face. I smiled sadly at her, knowing what she was trying to say, before whispering "I'm going for a walk, I'll be back in a bit okay? If you need me, you know where to find me." I say, tapping my nose indicating how she can find me. I began to walk towards the door of the guild, when I was stopped by a screech that made me curse to Igneel that if I have to deal with this now I'm going to create a volcano in the middle of the guild.

"Natsu Dragneel! Where do you think you're going! My rent is due in a few weeks and I've got literally nothing! When are you going to get your lazy ass over to the request board and pick up a quest for me so that I can pay my rent!" seethed Lucy, hands balled into fists while holding her keys. I could tell she was jealous of me sitting with Wendy and Gajeel instead of her, more hurt than upset at the fact I chose Wendy over her.

"Do it yourself, I'm not some sort of war dog for making you quick jewel." I spat back, relishing in the shock that once again appeared on her face. "Why don't you take Juvia instead hmm? You three were pretty insistent on it yesterday!" I stared smugly into her face, where she had a mix between fear, anger and shock on her face, before replying "You're not a child Lucy Heartfellia, I'm not going to baby you because you lacked the intelligence of learning hand to hand combat when you learned a holder-type magic type."

"NATSU THAT IS ENOUGH" Erza shouted, while requipping her sword out and holding it to my neck. "I know you're mad at the master for not picking you for the trials, but the Natsu I know doesn't sneer at his family when they need him and want his help. The Natsu I know doesn't hide how he truly feels from his family! The Nat– "I cut her off, my magic rolling off me in waves, amplified by Wendy's wind that she knew would just make my fire hotter and more wild in an attempt to scare her.

"The Erza I know doesn't get pressured into kicking her best friend off his own team that he formed himself." Pain took hold of her face, but was quickly masked back with anger. "The Erza I know doesn't think that Juvia should be a replacement for Natsu, The Erza I know would find a way to incorporate both of us into the same team. Or is that the Erza I knew, and not the Erza you actually are? Because if this is how you truly are, miss scarlet, I was a fool to think you could watch my back in the first place." I sneered at her, the look of horror and pure rage on her face amplifying with every word. "The Natsu you knew died in the Dragonoid, when the physical manifestation of his soul was sucked away from him to power a machine that Gray helped build. Or did you forget that Erza? That Gray lured me there, weakened me to the point where I had no choice into going into it, for pure FEAR THAT WENDY WOULD BE PUT IN THERE, NO REGARD FOR MY OWN SAFTEY. NO ERZA, THAT NATSU DIED. THIS NATSU WAS BORN FROM THAT, SMARTER AND LESS WILLING TO TRUST FOOLS WHO CAN'T STAY BEHIND THEIR OWN WORD." At this point, I watched as Lucy was in tears, I watched as she fell to the floor holding herself and she tried to stop crying but there were more tears for every word that I spoke.

Erza lost it, she brought her sword up above my head and slashed at my face, cutting down my face from my left eyebrow to my chin. Seconds later, Wendy and I had our fists buried in her gut, and she was left sprawled across the floor without a second thought from either of us. I cauterized the wound, then let Wendy heal it back to how it was so the eye would still function. After a few seconds, my vision was back to normal and I had brought Wendy into a hug.

My eyes grew more reptilian as I heard a faint sound from Gray, and whipped around so fast it would put a square to shame. My voice boomed off the walls in the guild as I watched the walking Snowcone crap himself as I looked deep into his soul. He took the initiative and tried to punch me in the face, but Wendy was quicker. She was there with her hand on his wrist, draconic slits in her eyes, as she snarled "You think about doing that and I will skin you alive and make sure that you are used as a doormat in my new home. Nobody touches my mate with the intent to harm while I am around."

The guild was in pure fear and confusion at this display, wondering why Wendy of all people was defending me from Gray, while Gajeel, the Exceed and Laxus chuckled. Mira had hearts in her eyes when she heard the word _mate_.

"Oi, Salamander. Why don't you give them a taste of what you're really like, under that happy-go-lucky persona you've got going on. Once that's done, we're leaving. I don't want to be in a guild that treats my alpha like trash or mate like an object." Gajeel shouted out from across the room.

"Oi, Natsu. Once you're done with the clean-up, how about we go and get out of here. I've had a mind for leaving this guild for a while now, and with this display I know for a fact that I'm following my alpha slayer. This fairy trash treats my mate like some sort of object for their desires." Laxus followed up, with most of the guild looking at him in shock.

"Natsu, what are they talking about. What do those three mean by _Alpha_ and _Mate_." Makarov finally speaks, his brow furrowed as if he was trying to contemplate something large.

"Well you see, gramps" I pulled off my scarf to show off my mating mark to the guild, as Wendy did the same. "Me and Wendy are bound by the same force that Laxus and Mira, also Gajeel and Levy are bound by. A dragon can only have one mate in their entire life, regardless of their own feelings. They may love another and hate their mate, but their mate is someone that has a piece of their soul in. It is what humans call _soul mates_. One will stand by their mate for their life, as their life force is intertwined." I took a deep breath as I looked around the guild to see disgust, shock and fury. I knew this would happen though, so I was prepared to meet the stares. "I found mine when I was at the breaking point with all of you, and she convinced me to give you all a new chance. I now see that it was a mistake. You all forget how good dragon senses are. I can smell you across town, as can the rest of the dragon slayers. I can hear every conversation in this guild hall, as can the rest of the slayers. You think that calling my magic an abomination and a necessary evil is pleasing? No." I looked around again, darkly chuckling at the horror plastered all over the guilds faces. I sighed, knowing this last part would drive home and show them what their words can do once they are set into motion. "This guild prides itself on being a family, yet the only family I see here is a family of dragons, and the livestock that forces them down. There are only few people in this guild that I would even remotely consider being part of the family of dragons, that aren't slayers themselves. Those people are Mira, Levy, Gildarts, Bisca, Alzack, the thunder god tribe, Lisanna and Elfman." I paused, to look at the faces of the people I just called out, all of them with an understanding smile on their faces apart from Alzack and Bisca. "The rest of you haven't a damn about how we feel. Those few people are the reason I'm still here in the guild. The rest of you would rather we leave for pathetic reasons such as _property damage_ and _guild brawls_. So, that is what we're doing. I was only going to quit team Natsu today, however I see I was a fool to even come back to this guild hall."

I heard Wendy growl when Gray started moving again, only for her to silence him with a glare. "Ne, Wendy, can you please remove your hand from the ice-cunts wrist, I wouldn't want you to catch anything" My voice softened when I said my mates name, it having a calming effect on me. I wasn't done, not by a long shot, however, I had to pause so that my mate and the rest of the dragon slayers could gather around me, ready to leave at a moment's notice. What surprised me was when Mira and Levy decided to come with their respective mates and stand with us, I turned toward them.

"You two don't have to do this you know, just because the slayers are leaving, doesn't mean you have to leave behind your family, your past and your memories. You guys love it here, I can tell." Mira spoke next.

"You said it yourself Natsu, one will stand by their mate for their life. I'm coming whether you like it or not." Levy nodded her head in agreement, silently saying she would stand next to Gajeel till the end of time.

"It's your choice not mine. Although I want you two to be entirely sure once you walk through these doors, as if you want to come back to visit the slayers will not be coming with you." I said in a fatherly tone.

Gramps sighed defeatedly. "Natsu my boy, rethink what you're doing. You know what happens if you try and make an enemy of fairy tail, you were the one to mete out this justice for us."

"It was the former Team Natsu that made an enemy of me, and I was the one to mete out this _justice_ you are on about. You know all too well about the kind of _justice_ a dragon will deal out Makarov." I spat on the floor, showing my disgust for this guild and what it had become. I took a step forward towards Gray, who was now seething and only being held back by Juvia and Erza. Knowing this, I took another step forward, bent over slightly so I could see him eye to eye, and said to him in the calmest voice I could muster at this point.

"How do you feel Gray, knowing that your idiocy and selfish greed for your own image to look better, made this. How do you feel, knowing the one person you thought you could always rely on, the person you looked at like a brother, is now abandoning you from your own actions? You forced this onto yourself when you decided to team up with _Daphne_." I growled at the name, feeling phantasms of the pain that the machine caused me still. "You must feel terrible eh? You must feel like everything is shattering around you. Oh well, at least you've still got _Team Juvia_ to keep you going, that you can rely on. Goodbye, Fullbuster. I hope I never run into you or your team again. However, if we do meet, it will not be pretty for you and whoever you are with."

And with that, I brought my fire up to my guild mark, burned it clean off in front of the entire guild, turned around, looked over my shoulder at Juvia, and silenced any conversation for the next few days with a simple "Keep your boyfriend in check next time he's drunk, you don't know who is listening. I can smell him all over you." I looked ahead of me, and walked toward the guild doors. I looked over my shoulder, locked eyes with Makarov and laughed. "You have made an enemy you will not be able to overcome. Until we meet again, _Fairy Tail_. "and with that, I left the guild hall without looking back.

Wendy looked at her former guildmates faces, most with confusion and shock, as they had thought Natsu had loved fairy tail. She looked at Lucy and Erza with pity in her eyes, pity that she didn't say more to them. She wiped off her guild mark with a gust of wind and caught up with Natsu. Laxus and Gajeel didn't even have to think about it, they just wiped their marks off without a second thought.

Jet and Droy ran up to Levy and started pleading with her to stay, but she had already made up her mind. She had known what the guild was like to the slayers behind their backs, and hated it. She knew the guild prided itself on family bonds, but this wasn't the family that she knew. Mira had the hardest time dealing with her choice, as her siblings were surprised that she would leave the guild because Laxus was, even though they knew how the slayers were treated. They had half mind to go with them, but Mira told them to stay, she wouldn't separate them from their home.

Mira and Levy had their doubts, but knew that they could trust us, and we wouldn't do something like this without a plan. And had a plan we did.


	3. Chapter 3: The New town

Chapter 3: The new town

It had been two weeks since the group of them had left the guild, wandering from town to town until eventually settling in a guildless town in between Crocus and Magnolia. It was a simple town, a few houses, a bakery, an inn, a library, a large clock tower in the middle of the town centre that also served as the mayor's office. It was almost perfect to the group, and Natsu had decided to ask the mayor if they could have their guildhall here after asking the opinion of the rest of his travelling group. Once they had booked into the inn for the night, opting for 3 rooms, they had all gone into Natsu and Wendy's room to talk.

"So how do you all like this town? It's quiet, we've got everything we need here, plus we won't be competing with another guild here. Even better, we won't to run into any of the fairies unless they are specifically wanting to come here! It's perfect!" Natsu said while grinning, getting a nod from Wendy, already enraptured by the amount of cake and sweets they sold at the bakery.

Gajeel was next to speak, frowning. "I still think we're too close to those fairies, but I'm not going to deny that this place has a cool feeling to it. It reminds me of the town that Metalicana taught me so I'm down for settling here Salamander." Levy looked surprised that Gajeel would agree, because she thought that he would be the one to reject the idea the hardest. She looked at him suspiciously, before dropping it. "Sure, I've a feeling that the library here is something to behold too, I was only in there for about an hour earlier and found books I've never heard of, so I know for a fact that I'm coming back even if we don't start the guild here."

"Speaking of the guild, Natsu, seen as though it was your idea, what is it going to be called, and what's the mark going to look like? It's obvious you're gonna be the master, so It'd make sense for you to name it, yeah?" Mira said with a sweet smile, one not uncommon for the silver-haired barmaid

"Slayer's Pride." Natsu said with a cheeky smirk, while pulling a notebook out from seemingly nowhere. It had a mark on the front that none of them but Happy had seen before. It was a simple mark, A triangle inside a flame, with a dragon's head at the top, a human head in the middle which was the biggest of the four symbols, an angel's head on the bottom left and a devil's head on the bottom right. "But we won't just accept slayers obviously, our guild will be a refuge for the forgotten, a haven for the rejected, but most importantly, a home for a family that won't go behind each other." Everyone in the room smiled, nodding at his words.

Laxus grinned, lightning dancing at his fingertips. "So, I guess we are going to be what fairy tail would have been if you became guild master, eh Natsu?". Natsu donned his signature grin at this, and nodded as he passed around the notebook for everyone to look at the mark on the front. Levy opened the notebook and found something shocking. A date. Specifically, the day after he met Lucy, and found out that Macao had been taken over by a Vulcan. She flicked through the notebook more, found blueprints for a guild-hall that was, in Levy's opinion, just right. She also found notes on how he would have gone about doing the S class trials, ranging from tests of strength, to tests of the mind. He even had his own version of _That_ , and it was worse than Fairy tail's _that_. If this was anyone else she wouldn't have been so surprised, but this was Natsu. He had put his heart, body and soul into keeping fairy tail together, and she had just found that Natsu had been planning to leave.

"Natsu, how long had you been planning to leave Fairy tail? The notebook starts the day after Lu-Chan joined." She grimaced when she saw the look on his face, she knew the next few minutes weren't going to be the happiest.

"I should have known you'd have opened it Levy, you were always too curious for your own good. Oh well. I've been thinking about this for a while now, I guess since Lucy joined the guild, I thought I had finally found someone that I could be me around, I was still hurting from when Lisanna disappeared. I kept the notebook as a backup plan, even though I thought I wouldn't need it. About two months after she joined though, I had a feeling she only saw me to make money, and loved me because of that. I was almost ready to give up on fairy tail after the Oracion Seis stuff went down, but my Wendy here gave me the strength to carry on, albeit a little longer. That Dragonoid was the last straw though."

Wendy beamed at being called "my Wendy", knowing that the people surrounding her understood what Natsu and Wendy had, but frowned again at the mere mention of the Dragonoid. She understood what he had went through when he was there, as her and Natsu's magic had been siphoned away from them in Edolas.

"Anyway, shouldn't we all get some sleep? We've got a lot to do tomorrow, and I'm guessing this town isn't going to let us just have our guild here without helping them first." Natsu laughed, while the others just grinned and nodded. He watched as the others left his and Wendy's room whilst she changed into her nightclothes, jumped onto the bed and giggled. Natsu turned around and smirked softly once he saw Wendy, her clothes leaving little to the imagination.

"So, Natsu-kun. What was that about me giving you some strength to carry on with Fairy tail, hmm? I hope you weren't just saying that so you can get me to watch that film on that movie lacrima I just happened to notice in your bag..." she smirked and let out a playful giggle when he jumped onto the bed. "You know I wouldn't do something so shallow my dragoness." He said while pulling her towards him, pressing her body up against his and capturing her lips in a kiss. She led her head into his shoulder, breathing on his mate mark. "I'm glad, Natsu-kun." She sighed contently, before being lulled into sleep by how warm and gentle he was.

Happy and Carla looked at this display of affection, and silently agreed that they should leave the two Dragon slayers be, before curling up on the sofa. "Ne, Carla?" Happy whispered, getting her attention before carrying on. "Thank you. Natsu's been a lot happier since he found Wendy. Before, when we were alone, he would sit in his house, staring at his memory wall. Other days he would go over that notebook we saw earlier time and time again, working on everything in there, until he thought he had the perfect setup from what he learned in fairy tail. It killed me to see him like that, and only I knew what he was really like, it broke me to know that I couldn't do anything to keep him Happy. Ironic isn't it, He named me Happy and that was the one thing I couldn't make him when he needed it." He paused for a few seconds, letting his words sink in.

"What are you getting at, tomcat?" She looked at him sceptically, as this was a side of Happy she hadn't seen before. "I'm tempted to say that Edolas and Daphne was a good thing, as being in Fairy tail hurt Natsu more than he would care to admit. He realised that, only because Wendy had kept him in that guild for just a bit longer, while being there for him like nobody before her. I guess what I'm trying to say is that without Wendy, I fear that Natsu would have just bared with the pain of being in Fairy tail and just carried on. So, thanks for letting her join the guild and become part of our lives…" Happy quietly said, with tears in his eyes.

Carla was taken back, she didn't know that Wendy had such a big impact on the pair's life. She had thought that Natsu was just another brash fool that took everything in his stride. She had moved closer to happy, and gave him a hug, wiping his tears from his eyes in silence. "It's not me you should be thanking, tom cat. You should be thanking Wendy. I had never known you two were so close, and I never thought that Wendy and I were the light in your darkness, although I suppose it makes sense..." Her tone of voice drifted off, internally berating herself for being so cruel to Happy and Natsu. Without either of them realising it, their tails had curled around one another as they drifted off to sleep.

 **\- The next day-**

Natsu woke up to a familiar scent at the door, barely sitting up in time as Gajeel knocked on their door to wake them up. "Oi, Salamander, you better be up by now. Me and Levy are going to have another look around the town. We'll meet you in the town centre at 10:30 to speak to the mayor." Natsu groaned, signalling to Gajeel that he had heard him and was getting up. He looked towards Wendy, who was still asleep. Briefly, he took in her scent of what he deemed to be a mix of a Grassy meadow and Vanilla as a wave of peace enveloped him. He slowly kissed her awake, before smiling at her with his signature grin. "Morning Wendy". Wendy's eyes fluttered open to see a grinning Natsu "Good morning Natsu-kun, why'd you wake me up, is something going on?" Wendy sat up in the bed, eyebrow arched at Natsu in a questioning manner. "We're supposed to meet the mayor at 10:30, wanna stop by that bakery on the way there?" Natsu said softly, as to not wake up the two exceed still asleep.

"Sure Natsu-kun, I wouldn't mind going there for some breakfast. Shouldn't we wake up Happy and Carla first though? It would be rude to keep them asleep for something as amazing as the bakery in town" she gleamed, eyes sparkling at the mention of the bakery, her new favourite shop. "Nah, they're good. They'll be asleep for another hour yet, we'll just leave a note when we leave." Wendy nodded and got out of bed, showered, dressed and then started work on breakfast. Natsu took the opportunity to get into the shower and get dressed, before their day begins.

Natsu set about finding the two exceed once he got out of the shower, wanting to find where they had run off to this time. He found them, lying on the sofa, curled around each other with their tails intertwined. "Hey Wendy, come and see this, bring the camera too" Natsu laughed, as Wendy came over to see what the fuss was about. Once she saw the two cats though, she went into hysterics and woke the pair up.

"Ne, Carla, you didn't tell me you liked sleeping with Happy. We'll have to get you two your own bed once we sort out the guild and its housing eh?" Wendy said as she smirked, with a knowing smirk on her face as the white exceed blushed up a storm. Happy piped up before Carla could even get a word in. "Aye sir! And then we can eat all the fish in peace and Carla would have to accept them then!" Carla scowled, then remembered what Happy had said the night before. "I guess one fish couldn't hurt, but that is it tom cat. I don't want to see you try and give me another fish for the rest of the day, is that understood?"

Wendy and Natsu were shocked, never once had the white exceed accepted a fish from Happy, the younger dragon slayer giggled, and went back to making breakfast. Natsu was the next to speak.

"I wonder what the magic council will think when they find out we're making our own guild, what do you think Happy?"

"I don't think that they should know it's Natsu Dragneel leading this guild, they'll try and disband the guild quicker than I can requip a fish into my hand." Carla's eyes bulged when he said this, as she and Wendy didn't know that Happy knew any other magic other than Aera magic. "Wait, happy, you can requip? Why don't you use it when you're fighting then?"

"I can't use it for fighting, I'm too small to use a decent weapon. So, I use it to store all of the food and medical supplies me and Natsu need while we're travelling. You guys didn't find it odd that we never ran out of bandages? When you spend time around mages your entire life you manage to pick up a few tricks" Happy winked and went back to eating his fish.

"I doubt they'd object too much to me running a guild, it can't be that hard anyway. Anyway, are we all done? I think it's time we should get a move on if we want to go to the bakery before we see the mayor." Natsu said gleefully.

It didn't take long for the four to get to the bakery, and even less time to get to the town centre as the clock tower was in the middle of the town. Natsu looked around while Wendy nibbled at her cake, looking for the rest of their group. He spotted Levy and Gajeel next to the library with Pantherlily in tow, while Mira and Laxus were coming out of the inn they stayed the night at.

"Right, let's do this. What's the worst that can happen?" Natsu grinned, as he went up to the doors on the clock tower. He knocked three times before a short man answered the door. "Are you the wizards here for the wyvern extermination?"

"Nah, sorry to disappoint you. Although we could do it, quite easily. But we'd like to talk to the mayor of this town, I think he's expecting us? I'm Natsu Dragneel?" Gajeel snickered, "Damn, I never knew salamander could be formal, I would have guessed. Gihi."

"Oh, sorry for my rudeness Mr. Dragneel, let me go and get the mayor now!" The short man sprinted back into the building with an alarmed look on his face before coming back a few minutes later. "He's all ready for you now Mr. Dragneel, you and your friends can go on up."

Natsu nodded at the rest of his group and they were guided to the mayor's office. Natsu's eyes widened when he walked into the room and saw the mayor. "I remember you! You were in a bandit camp that I took out a few years ago, you've done well for yourself haven't you, old man." He said while sporting his infamous grin

"Ah, Salamander, come in! come in! Yes, that was me. I'm glad you remembered! I assume these are your friends? What a wonderful group you've got, care to introduce me?"

"Yeah, this is Wendy Marvell, Laxus Dreyar, Gajeel Redfox, Levy Mcgarden, Mirajane Strauss, Happy, Carla and Pantherlily. Former wizards of Fairy tail. Which is what we came to speak to you about, I noticed this town was guildless?"

"A powerful group, I've heard of you all. You're the Sky Maiden, Leader of the thunder-god tribe, Black Steel Gajeel, the Tomesmith and the Majin! You all are just what I need to get rid of the Wyverns threating our town. But we can deal with that in a few minutes. Yes, our town is guildless. Not many mages come through this part of the country thus we don't attract many people here." Gajeel's eyebrow was raised at Levy's nickname, but brushed it aside for now. He had heard a lot about the Tomesmith, but he never realised that it was his Levy the whole time.

"Well maybe we can change that old man, we're looking for a town to set up our own guild. We all left fairy tail due to… an incident that happened." Natsu's brow furled and his face contorted when he mentioned the incident. Wendy moved to put her hand on Natsu's to comfort him while Happy flew onto his shoulder comfort him.

"Well Natsu my boy, I think we can strike a deal here. You can get your first official request for this guild you're making, and if it's completed, you all can set up your guild. By the time you get back, I will have got the papers needed from the council and have it approved. All you will need to do is provide the name and the stamp for the guild!" The mayor laughed, and smiled gleefully. "You see my boy, that wyvern problem is a real menace, so I need a group of strong wizards to take them all out. There are a few Ice wyverns in the mix, so you should have no problems with them."

Natsu smirked. "You can count wyverns as good as dead Jii-chan, we'll be back before sundown!" His famous grin making its way to his face. "Levy, as you're the smartest out of the lot of us, I want you to start making a plan and a backup if something goes wrong. However, if more than three of us are seriously injured, our Exceeds will fly them directly to Wendy and then come back to get the others. Okay?"

"Sure thing, _Master Natsu_." Levy teased. Gajeel smirked while Laxus and Mira let out a laugh

"So Jii-chan, what part of the mountainside do you need us to go to find these wyverns? The quicker we can get there, the quicker we can get back" Natsu said while hearing levy mumbling and writing down a small set of plans with a light pen. She looked at Wendy. "Wendy, don't you have a spell that allows you to solidify the air underneath your feet for a few moments?" Wendy looked shocked, not knowing others knew about that spell. "Yeah, it doesn't require a lot of magic either, I can do about 30 steps before having to stand back on the ground, why?" Levy's eyes lit up

"They're on the side closest to us, that's why they're such a problem. They don't come close to our town, but it is a real pain when we need to go foraging for food or some of the children go there to play. Wyverns as you know are extremely territorial, and sometimes people go missing. However, they always seem to come back alive, albeit with a few broken bones, but they never go into the woods again. We think that they're defending something there, but we've got no idea what." The mayor's brow furled in confusion, then sighed. "If you could find out what they're defending and make sure it at least moves to another part of the mountain we would be eternally grateful and would happily compensate for your guild halls construction also. But we would need proof of the causes' removal."

"I've got it! Natsu, both plans are done, and both can be easily executed without any major injury or damage to the wildlife nearby." Levy said with excitement. She knew her strengths weren't in battle, they were planning the battle. Gajeel smirked in pride. It had taken her little under five minutes to put two plans together that had little chance of going wrong.

"That's great Levy, we're about to leave anyway. See you, old man. We'll be back before you know it." Natsu said, waving as he started to walk towards the door.

"Sure thing Natsu, just make sure you all come back. You all might be strong, but a pack of wyverns aren't pushovers either! If the person that took the request happens by once you're out, I'll let them know that they can go, unless you're wanting help?" The mayor said carefully, knowing what a pack of wyverns can do to a group of wizards if unprepared.

"Nah, we won't be needing help. Tell the mage or mages to either wait here or go home." Natsu said in confidence, as he knew his group would be able to handle the wyverns. The nine mages left the building to go and find the wyverns.

They would not be prepared for what awaited them when they got back.


	4. Chapter 4: New additions to the pack

Chapter 4: New additions to the pack

"Levy-san, while we're on our way over there, do you think you could tell us the plan." Wendy said, smiling.

"Sure thing Wendy! Now, everybody listen up. Wendy, you'll use your Air step spell to scout out the area with Mira, to make sure the Wyverns are where the mayor said they are. Mira should be able to grab you before you start to fall, so you'll be fine. Once we find them, you two will come straight back and Mira will fly Laxus over there and create a mock thunderstorm to keep the wyverns grounded. Natsu and Gajeel will then charge in after Wendy has buffed you with her support spells and you two will knock them senseless." She paused for a breath. "Laxus and Mira will pick off any stragglers that get left behind, and Wendy will look for whatever they're defending. Once the wyverns are down, we'll all meet up where Wendy is to find out what they're defending. Be on guard, as we don't know what we're up against there." Levy said, while everyone nodded at the plan. "I can also use a little rune magic to make sure we can all talk to each other while doing this. It's not telepathy, but it works in a similar fashion. It won't last long though, so you can only use it a few times before it disappears."

Everyone nods at this, and starts making their way towards the forest at the base of the mountain.

Wendy was first into the forest, compressing the air as she climbed toward the peak of the trees with her **Sky Dragon's Air Step** , and saw a few flying objects in the distance. Mira came up behind her in her **Satan Soul** , and Wendy pointed toward the objects. "Mira-san, I think those are the wyverns we're meant to kill. Don't you think?" Wendy suggested, with a grin. Ever since she'd been training with Natsu, she'd become more confident with herself and her abilities. She was about the rank of an A class mage at this point in terms of magic power right now, and had most of the basic spells mastered.

"Hai Wendy, let's go take a look before we go and everyone, okay?" Mira said, darting off in the direction of the objects. Wendy didn't need to go nearly as far, as she had her Enhanced dragon eyesight to make out that those were their targets. "Mira, those are wyverns. Three Ice, and two element-less ones. Two of the Ice wyverns are not fully matured. Let's head back now, and grab Natsu and the others." Mira nodded, and darted toward Laxus, who merely shrugged and followed her with his lightning. Wendy went back to Natsu, Gajeel, Levy and the Exceeds.

"Wendy, did you find them?" Natsu asked, already knowing the answer and preparing himself for a fight. "Hai, Natsu-kun. Three ice and two element-less Wyverns, shouldn't be too much of a challenge for a demon, four dragon slayers and an insanely clever solid script mage. Mira-san and Laxus-san have already gone ahead to spread the lightning around, we should join them soon." Wendy clasped her hands together and took a deep breath before snapping her eyes open and shouting " **Arms! X Armour! X Vernir!"**

"Thanks Wendy, now I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted as he darted to where the newly created thunderstorm was. Gajeel just laughed his creepy laugh and darted off towards the thunderstorm also. "We should go there too, Levy-san. You can provide power-ups for the other dragon slayers, they might need it. Element-less wyverns have to be more powerful than elemental ones to survive in their society." Wendy said before darting towards the wyverns.

When Natsu and Gajeel got to the beasts, they heard a loud thunderclap and a loud **Lightning Dragon's Roar** which hit a few of the wyverns before zapping around them once more, looking for a blind spot to focus another roar onto.

"Gajeel, pick off the two element-less ones, I'll deal with the Ice bastards!" Gajeel nodded and sprinted left covering himself in his **Iron Dragon's Scales** , hitting the two element-less wyverns with a quick **Iron Dragon's Lance** before flipping backward, gaining the attention of the two wyverns. "Gihi, looks like this might be fun Salamander."

Natsu nods towards Gajeel, before throwing a large **Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame** at the three Ice wyverns, severely Injuring them and knocking one unconscious from that attack alone. He looked towards the other two Wyverns which were bigger than that one. ' _Must have been a child'_ Natsu thought, before punching one of the wyverns with a **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist** in the face hard enough to shatter an entire train.

' _That's going to leave a mark in the morning, ah well, Wendy should be able to kiss it better_ ' Natsu laughed at his own joke before preparing a roar, while the Adult wyvern looked like it was charging its own roar. Natsu's brow furled, and he shouted **Fire Dragon's Roar** towards the wyvern, which melted the others roar and hit it square in the chest, sending it flying back into the other wyvern, knocking them both out. He used the rune that Levy set them all with to contact Wendy. "Wendy, can you hear me?"

"Hai, Natsu-kun, I can hear you, I thought you'd be longer with the wyverns though, I have a feeling I know what the wyverns were defending, but I'm going to need you here soon. Tell the others to not kill the wyverns though." Wendy said through their link, as she launched herself over more trees with her **Sky Dragon's Air Step** before stopping in a clearing.

Gajeel was having the time of his life with the two Wyverns, as they just kept getting back up. He knocks one of the wyverns out with his **Iron Dragon's Club** before laughing and using **Iron Dragon's Roar** at the last wyvern. He saw Laxus and Mira walk toward him as well as Natsu.

"Well this a waste of time, I thought wyverns were supposed to be tough. Tch" Gajeel said in disgust, kicking one of the unconscious wyverns. "Well Gajeel, if you thought that was fun, You, Levy, Laxus and Mira are the ones that get to knock them unconscious again while I go and find Wendy, have fun and blame Gajeel guys" Natsu sported his famous grin before disappearing in a flash of fire to find Wendy.

When Natsu found Wendy, she was standing at the edge of a large nest that Natsu had assumed to be the wyvern nest. What Wendy was staring at however, was the girl in the middle of it, sleeping. "Wendy, do you know who she is?" Wendy shook her head. "Natsu-kun, it's probably best if we wake her up and talk to her, she is probably what the wyverns were protecting, and why we're not going to kill the wyverns. I'll go back to them and tell them not to kill, while you wake the girl up." Natsu grinned, kissed Wendy then jumped into the large wyvern nest while waving to Wendy.

Wendy grinned, and prepared her **Sky Dragon's Air Step** spell to make it back to the others. Natsu smelled something familiar with this girl, but he couldn't place the scent, even though he knew he had smelt it before. He looked at the girl on the floor and subconsciously whispered "Fuyu…" When he said that, the girl bolted awake, and shook her head frantically before her gaze settled on Natsu

When he saw this, he put up his hands and took a step back "Whoa, calm down there! I'm friendly, don't worry, I won't hurt you, What's your name?"

"You called me Fuyu a second ago, didn't you? There is only one person on Earthland that would know that name, and his name was Natsu." Natsu's eyes grew wide, before she continued. "He nicknamed me that after my magic. What's your name, and how did you get here, I had been living with the wyverns here, if they find out you're here they'll kill you."

"My name is Natsu Dragneel, I'm a fire Dragon slayer" the girl's eyes widened when she heard this, and started crying, while smiling. "I found you again, I can't believe it. I can't believe I finally found you again Natsu, it's me, Lexi! Lexi Glacite You remember me, don't you? We were pretty little when we got lost in the woods that day so I might forgive you if you don't remember." She said while crying.

Natsu looked astonished, then he frowned, then his face turned into pure joy

"I remember! I was hunting for food because Igneel said his mate was visiting from the north, and before I knew it I was lost in the woods. I heard a voice and found you, crying because you said you had lost your mother, and she was visiting a friend. You got scared and launched an **Ice Dragon's Roar** at me, and I nicknamed you Fuyu because of your magic! We found our way back to Igneel and Glacilaogia and we were scolded because we didn't bring any food back to them."

Natsu then fell over in shock as he was tackled by the girl now known as Lexi, who was crying into his stomach. "I can't believe you remembered me!"

"We better go back to where my friends are, they're keeping the wyverns incapacitated until they speak to us, so we can get them to leave the town nearby alone." Natsu said, while standing up. "Come on Fuyu, I'd like you to meet my friends and my mate. You are my little sister after all, Glacilaogia was Igneel's mate, so technically she was my stepmum. Give me a second though." His face turned into concentration as he tried to contact Wendy

"Wendy, I'm bringing the girl back with us, you won't believe who she is!" Natsu said over their link happily.

"Natsu-kun, do I need to be worried about your loyalty?" Wendy said over their link, in a mock demonic tone, signalling to Natsu to make his next few words very carefully

"No, Wendy, you don't need to be worried, I love you and only you. You're my mate after all. I'd rather tell everyone at once though, so if you could bear with me for a few more minutes while we get to where you all are I'd appreciate it. If you do, I'll buy you something at the bakery later, I'll pay for anything you want" Natsu said, sweetly, as to not annoy his mate. He learned very early on that an angry mate was a scary mate, and he never wanted to see that again. Before she could say anything else, the link lost its connection.

"This Wendy girl sure knows how to scare you doesn't she, Natsu-nii?"

"Remember when mum used to get really mad at Igneel for the littlest things?" He looked over at Lexi, who only nodded and giggled. "She's like that, but is really sweet. We'll all introduce each other when you meet them, okay?"

"Hai, Natsu-nii."

It took only a few more minutes for them to walk back to the clearing where Wendy, Gajeel, Levy, Mira, Laxus, Happy, Carla and Pantherlily were. Natsu grinned when he saw Wendy, He rushed over to her and grabbed her in a hug, spun her round and kissed her on the tip of the nose. The others could only laugh at this display.

"Okay Natsu-kun, I think that's enough flattery now. Would you like to introduce us, and explain why she smells like a dragon? More specifically, Your dragon?" Natsu just grinned at her, and said "She's my little sister. Glacilaogia, her dragon, was Igneel's mate. I've only seen her a few times, as an Ice dragon can't stand being in hot places for more than a few days." Wendy glanced at him, sighed and turned to Lexi. "My name's Wendy Marvell, the Sky Dragon slayer. Grandine, the sky dragon, taught me. I'm also Natsu-kun's mate, so I hope you don't have a brother complex." Natsu rolled his eyes at her and laughed. ' _So, Wendy can get protective, good to know for the future_ '.

"Wow Natsu-nii, you got lucky. Feisty and sweet? I'm almost jealous." Lexi giggled, before facing everyone else. "Hi, my name's Lexi Glacite, I'm 14 and I'm Natsu's little sister I'm the Ice dragon slayer. Who are the rest of you?"

Gajeel stepped forward. "Name's Gajeel, the Iron dragon slayer, son of Metalicana." Levy punched his arm before saying "You could be a bit nicer Gajeel. My name's Levy Mcgarden. I use Solid Script magic." She smiled at Lexi.

Laxus was next. "I'm Laxus Dreyar, 2nd generation, lightning dragon slayer. I wasn't taught by a dragon, rather I had a dragon lacrima inserted into my body, allowing me to use the magic." Her eyes narrowed when he said dragon lacrima, but thought that if Natsu was okay with them then she would be too. She turned to the silver haired girl who clung to his arm. "My name's Mirajane, but you can call me Mira. I use Take over magic, but I use it on demons."

Lexi turned to the cats that were hovering close to their respective slayers. "My name's Happy! I'm Natsu's partner. This white-haired beauty here is Carla, She's Wendy's partner, and over there next to Gajeel is Pantherlily, although we just call him Lily. We're exceeds." Happy finished.

Lexi smiled at the group, before she turned to the restrained wyverns that were behind them all. She made some strange growling noise, that Natsu understood somehow, and translated for the rest of the group.

"She's speaking with the family of Wyverns, thanking them for their help in finding her older brother again. She's explaining that we came here to make sure the town wasn't attacked again." The wyvern made a few more growling noises before lifting its head up towards Natsu, and made a few clicking sounds before growling again.

Natsu lifted his head up towards the wyvern, and growled again, but this time straining his voice, as if trying to prove something. The wyvern's eyes widened, bowed its head, and lowered its guard. "He asked me who I was, and why I smelt like the Fire dragon king. I told him that Igneel was my dad, and has entrusted to safety of little Fuyu here to me, whilst promising not to come back to this side of the mountain."

Wendy looked at Natsu with shock written on her face. "You understood that? What language was that?" Natsu laughed. "That was the common language between Wyverns and Dragons. I had to learn it, as I'm the fire dragon prince. I doubt Grandine would have taught you it as Sky Wyverns are generally killed at birth, being the weakest element a wyvern could possess. Anyway, shouldn't we get back to the town? We've completed the job and have the proof that little Fuyu here was what the wyverns were defending."

Wendy nodded, before beaming at Natsu. "Natsu-kun, aren't you going to take me to the bakery once we get back, you said you would, remember?"

"Yea Wendy I'll take you there. Let's just go and get our guild established first, okay?" He kissed her cheek and started walking back toward the town, unknowing that a certain Scarlet haired mage had just walked into the same town with a guild request in her hand.

Once the group got back to the town centre, they heard shouting from inside the clock tower. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE REQUEST HAS ALREADY BEEN TAKEN CARE OF BY A COUPLE OF GUILDLESS MAGES. YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT?!" Natsu paled, and Wendy stiffened at the sound of the voice. Lexi looked at Natsu in confusion, before turning to the others. Happy was the one to tell her.

"That's the voice of one of our former guild mates. And it sounds like she's angry. Natsu, I think we should come back lat- "the shouting once again resumed "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE LEADER OF THE MERRY BAND OF MISFITS TOLD YOU TO SAY EITHER WAIT HERE OR LEAVE AS THE REQUEST IS OVER. I WANT TO SEE THIS MAN, NOW." Natsu's face contorted in rage as he heard this, and shouted back with ferocity. "WELL _SCARLETT_ IF YOU WANT TO COME AND SEE THIS _MERRY BAND OF MISFITS_ AS YOU CALL US COME OUTSIDE. WE'RE ALL WAITING HERE."

Inside the building, her eyes widened and she rushed out of the door. Sure enough, there was Natsu and the group that left Fairy Tail, along with someone else that she didn't know. What she didn't expect was to be greeted with looks of rage, instead of happiness.

"Natsu, what are you doing taking on an S class request without being an S class yourself, you could get yourself killed you know?" Erza sighed as she started moving towards Natsu, intending on correcting him on his mistake.

"Erza, are you forgetting us? Laxus and I are both S class, and Natsu here took out three ice wyverns without breaking a sweat." Mira said gently, with a smile that promised pain if she took another step. She looked at Natsu, who bared his teeth and growled. His eyes darted over her shoulder to see the mayor of the town, watching intently.

"Hey, Jii-chan. We're back, and we got the wyverns to leave, and with the proof that they were defending something. Little Fuyu here was in their care, while she was waiting for me to come find her. It seems that it all worked out in the end huh? You got rid of your wyvern problem, we get our side of the deal, and I get to make sure _Titania_ here learns her lesson from calling us a merry band of misfits. It's a win-win, right Jii-chan?"

The mayor smiled at Natsu and the group and nodded. "Don't go nuts Natsu, people's entire lives were lived here, it would be a shame if it was all destroyed." The mayor laughed, while beckoning for everyone but Natsu and Erza to join him in his office. Wendy refused, and so did Happy, although this was expected. Lexi also stayed, wanting to watch her older brother fight. She wanted to know how strong he had become.

"Natsu, what do you mean you get your side of the deal, what are you using this town for now? Have you learned nothing from your time at Fairy tail? Why don't you just come back home and stop being an idiot." Erza demanded, fury present on her face at being called 'Titania' and of Natsu saying he'd teach her a lesson.

Natsu gave her a harsh glare. "Home? In case you haven't realised, _Scarlet_ , I don't have a home right now. We thought we did, but the people in that home drove us away without realising it, and we had enough. Leave, before you get burnt." Erza only got into an offensive position, thinking that she could overpower Natsu easily. Before she could start fighting Natsu, she heard a voice.

"Ne, Erza-san. Do you know the best thing about not being in Fairy Tail anymore? Well, I'll tell you. It's not having to be afraid of hurting the people you love anymore, and having to hold back when in a fight." Wendy growled, staring at Erza who was bewildered at this display of aggression, before clapping her hands together and closing her eyes.

Before Erza could even think about what Wendy had just said, both Wendy and Natsu were enveloped in a green and red aura respectively. Wendy snapped her eyes open and shouted " **Arms! X Vernir!** " before flipping backwards and saying "Natsu-kun, make this quick, I'm getting hungry" while giggling, seemingly not taking Erza seriously.

"I'm all fired up Wendy" Natsu said, nodding in her direction, before lunging at Erza while shouting " **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist** ", who only had time to block the attack with her sword due to the speed Natsu was displaying.

" **Requip! Flame Empress Armour**!" Erza shouted as she was enveloped in a golden light, only to be punched in the gut while requipping. "You honestly thought I'd let you requip into an armour that would only slow me down? No. You don't get that luxury anymore _Titania_. **Fire Dragon Prince's Roar**!" He fired a roar of concentrated crimson, orange and golden fire at the requip mage, whose eyes only widened at this display of pure power as she shook in fear. She had never seen this kind of power from Natsu before, and it scared her.

The flames were wild, untamed. Not like the flames she knew Natsu had, which were tame and comforting. She watched as the flames surrounded her and everything behind her, but nothing was damaged. The fire had avoided anything other than empty space, not hurting anyone or damaging anything apart from Erza herself.

"Wh... what are those flames? They're like nothing I've ever seen before." Erza quickly requipped into her **Flame Empress Armour** to try and lessen the impact from them, before swinging her sword at Natsu, only for him to duck and plant a **Fire Dragon Prince's Iron Fist** in Erza's gut. Launching her into the air. Wendy jumped into the air and launched a **Sky Dragon's Roar** at Erza, who didn't have time to dodge the attack and was slammed face first into the cobblestones of the middle of the town. By now the entire town had gathered to see the throw down between the three famous mages.

Erza jumped up and charged at Natsu, wildly thrusting her sword to where she thought he would be, only for him to dodge the blade every time, and then laugh at her. She caught lunged at Natsu, who didn't react quick enough and her blade sliced his shoulder where his old guild mark used to be, enraging the slayer.

"Oh Erza, you know not what you have done" he growled demonically, before kicking her knee with a **Fire Dragon Prince's Talon** , bending it backward painfully. Erza dropped to one knee, seething in pain. "Erza, give up. You're not going to beat me and Wendy fighting together. Besides, any more injuries and you won't be ready for the S class Trials." Natsu said, before looking to Wendy. "I hate to ask, my dragoness, but could you heal her leg. She's going to need it to get back to Magnolia alive. If there was any other option then I'd rather use that, but I don't want her staying here any longer than needed. The other option is getting someone to help her back or bring a fairy here." Wendy sighed, signalling that she was against this but she would do it anyway.

"Erza-san, I want you to know that I'm doing this because Natsu asked me to, nothing else. Natsu may be able to forgive you soon if he hasn't already, but I won't be so easy" They both heard chuckling in the background coming from Natsu.

"Natsu-nii, what were those flames you used against her? You said something like ' **Fire Dragon Prince** ' right?" Lexi asked, eyes full of curiosity.

"They were beautiful Natsu-kun, but I wonder why they only hurt Erza. There aren't even scorch marks on the ground!" Wendy exclaimed, eyeing the ground between him and Erza.

"Those are the flames of the **Fire Dragon Prince**. Only I have them, as they are given to the only male offspring of the **Fire dragon king** , Igneel. I have complete domination over them, and they will not harm anything I deem unnecessary to harm. Erza, you are the only thing in this entire village that would be remotely affected by these flames as you are the only thing that I deem as a threat to me and my pack. You're all healed, yeah? Good, you can leave right now."

Erza got up shakily, looked towards Natsu and smiled. "You've really grown up haven't you Natsu, it's a shame you leaving Fairy tail was the reason for me to open my eyes and see it. If you ever think you can come back, our doors will always be open for everyone that left." Erza turned on her heel, ready to leave the town.

"Erza, that's not ever going to happen. My time in fairy tail is over. Also, I don't want you to tell the others where we are. We want a fresh start, and we can't do that if we've got Fairies flying around us all the time, reminding us of the past." Natsu grimly, while Erza only nodded. "I won't be telling anyone you're here, Natsu, they will only try and bring you back if I did. On Simon's grave, I won't tell anyone where any of you are, until the day I die or you tell me that it's okay to say. I guess this is goodbye then, eh Natsu, Wendy?"

"Yeah, Erza-san. It is. Tell nobody what happened here. Unless you want a repeat of this" Wendy said coldly, still having not forgiven Fairy tail for how Natsu was treated in the guild.

"Goodbye, Titania Erza." Natsu said, before taking Wendy's hand and leading the small group that stood outside back into the Mayor's office.


	5. Chapter 5: The new Nest

**Slayers' Pride**

 **Chapter 5: The New Nest**

"Well, thank the dragon gods that's over, I've never wanted to get rid of someone so quickly in my life…" Natsu grumbled as they knocked on the Mayor's door.

Wendy interlaced their hands together. "I'm glad she said she won't tell those fairies where we are, we don't need them around anymore… not after what they've done to you." Lexi's eyes grew curious.

"What'd they do to you Natsu-nii, I've never seen you that upset before, and you looked worse than you did when you found me trapped from a wyvern back when we were little…" Natsu shuddered, remembering what he did to that wyvern after they dared hurt his little sister. Come to think of it, those wyverns they just fought looked very similar to those ones from long ago…

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the door opened to reveal the rest of his new guild, and the mayor. The mayor had a stack of paper on his desk, each with the councils stamp on it, the mayor caught his gaze and smiled.

"Yes, Natsu. These are the papers that will allow your guild to become a legal guild. All you need to do, is write your name, Guild name, todays date and sign in the relevant boxes. The council has everything approved from there. So, my boy… are you ready to become a Guild Master?"

"If it means I can help people in need, I'll do anything old man. I'd tear down the walls of the council if it was necessary!" Natsu replied, grinning like a madman. "However, it won't be Natsu Dragneel leading the guild, as if they caught wind I was leading the guild they'd try to shut us down in a heartbeat. So, it'll be me under a different name. When we're a truly established guild, I'll come out to the public. Only the people in this room will know who truly is the guild master" Everyone smiled at the logic Natsu displayed, as everyone knew the council wasn't very happy with him in general.

Natsu walked over to the desk, and turned around to face his group. "So, now that we've decided who the guild master is, we just need to decide what the guild mark is going to look like. I'll leave that to you guys, as that's the only thing I couldn't think of when I was putting together my plans for our guild." he said, as everyone else cheered as he finished his little speech. Wendy was first to put forward an idea.

"How about we use the mark that is on the front of Natsu-kun's journal for the mark? The design is perfect for our little group, showing that everyone in our guild is connected in some way."

"The idea has merit short stuff, it was Natsu that suggested making a guild, so it's a safe bet to think that was his idea for the mark to begin with…" Laxus replied, getting a few eyebrows raised at how he wouldn't go against something like this. But then again, he did walk out of Fairy Tail two weeks ago with him.

Natsu looked over his shoulder as they were taking votes on the idea. Everyone was completely for the decision, they all were for this. He knew this was a good idea, this way, nobody would ever leave him again, or shun him for what he was.

"So, my boy, have you given thought as to what your new guild hall is going to look like? I do hope it will be a spectacle." The mayor remarked, looking at the book Natsu had in his hand. He found it intriguing that Natsu of all people was carrying a book, but held off questioning him against his better judgement. He sighed, this was going to be a long few weeks ahead of him…

- **Time Skip, 2 weeks** -

It had been two weeks since Slayers' Pride had become an official guild, and their guildhall had been more or less completed in that time. All that was left was to finish furnishing the guild housing and the second floor.

It was a simple building from the outside, but as soon as you walked in you were greeted by a guild hall that which nobody has ever seen. You were immediately greeted with a set of stairs heading downward, to the main bar area and the request board. The space this area occupied was circular in shape, and had the infirmary the opposite side to the request board. This is where most of the members of the guild would spend their time. To their left and their right, you'd see stairs heading to the second floor at the same level as the entrance to the guild, where the S class mages would be, along with the office for the guild master. Towards the back of the building you'd see two rooms, one being the guild library and the other being a meeting room for teams to plan missions, or to have time away from the rest of the guild. Separating the two rooms, there was a hallway leading to the back of the guild, where all the housing was.

There were eight rooms in total, split into four male rooms on the left side of the building. They were separated by a corridor, making two rooms on each side. The other side was identical to the left; however, the rooms were for female occupants only. At the end of each corridor, was a communal bathroom for each gender.

Above the guild dormitory was the guild masters living area. This had a door leading into the master's office, which was connected to the second floor. The area wasn't lavish by any means, but it was larger than most of the housing for the other members.

As soon as you walked into the room you were greeted by an open plan kitchen, dining room and living room area, with a hallway off to the side, leading to the bedrooms, the study and the bathroom. There were two bedrooms, one for Lexi and the other for Natsu and Wendy.

The guild hall was unofficially dubbed 'The nest' as it was a majority of dragon slayers that would use it. The building was situated on the edge of town, near the river that flowed through the town with a cobblestone pathway leading directly into the town.

During the time that it took to make the building, Natsu had developed an enchantment with Wendy only allowing S class wizards to see the jobs on the request board, as there would be no accidents like the one that happened to Lisanna in his guild. Nasu had also decided that he would hold his own S class trial soon, as he doubts any of his members wants to keep doing the boring jobs themselves. Except maybe Wendy, Levy and Lexi.

Right now, Wendy and Lexi were outside the guild, sparring while Natsu watched. He had taken it onto himself to finish the girls training, as much as he could anyway. He couldn't teach them everything as he was neither an Ice dragon slayer or a Sky dragon slayer

" **Sky Dragons Talon** " Wendy cried as she kicked Lexi, knocking her back a few feet, heading towards the river. _'A fatal flaw'_ Natsu noted _'If you push an ice wizard towards any source of water then they'll just freeze the water, making you fight on their turf.'_

Lexi froze her feet to the floor so she wouldn't skid back any further, and noticed she was closer to the river than she was before. _'This makes it a lot easier, I don't control the skies, but even dragons have to land some time…'_ She started to charge a roar.

Before Lexi could let off her roar, someone appeared in-between them. He was wearing white with a mint green trim on all of his clothes, with a scar going across his right cheek, one cut going across his jawline and the other two perpendicular to the first cut. Almost immediately Natsu was in his face. He knew this smell, it was very familiar to him. He was one of the S class contenders in Fairy tail, however he was wondering why he was here and not undertaking the trials.

"Natsu, before you start to attack me, I'd like to speak to your entire… group about something that needs your immediate attention." The new person didn't look like he was backing down.

"Fine, we're going into the guild for this. Wendy, can you tell everyone to be in the pit in five minutes? Tell them they'll get _**that**_ if they aren't there." She nodded and disappeared in a burst of wind. To the untrained eye she might as well have teleported, but to those skilled few they knew she had just used her own wind to amplify her own speed.

Within the next five minutes everyone was in the central area of the guild, close to the bar and request board. They had dubbed this part of their 'nest' the pit, as it was lowered into the ground about five meters and had stairs leading to it from the door of the guild. Everyone had now gathered around the man.

"Right, we're basically all here except Levy, although she'l be here in a moment, right Gajeel?" He got a nod of confirmation as she burst through the door.

"Now, Mest, tell us why you're wearing council robes and why you're here instead of at the trials." Natsu questioned, with glee in his eyes as he could only see an opportunity here. Either something had gone wrong or the council wanted his help with something to do with fairy tail.

"We all had just finished the first task of the trials, when Fairy Tail was attacked." He paused to look around the room. "By Grimiore Heart. Master Makarov asked for you by name, and said ' _I know you don't want anything to do with us, but the people you named when you left are in trouble. I don't ask you help Fairy tail, I ask you help them.'_ And told me to get to you as quick as possible." He finished with baited breath, as he could only imagine the inner struggle Natsu was having right now. "You know, a guild that started two weeks ago, taking down Grimoire Heart of all people, would get a lot more footfall and more jobs…"

"And where do you play a part in all of this. You're wearing rune knight gear." Natsu asked suspiciously, trying to connect the dots.

"The council assigned me to try and find information to give them an opportunity to disband fairy tail."

Surprisingly, it wasn't Natsu that was furious at this, it was Gajeel and Laxus. "What!" "You'd dare to do something like that?!" they both screamed.

"Levy." All talking stopped when they heard Natsu's voice, not liking his tone of voice. It was a mix of anger, and pain. He didn't want to help the fairies, but he still had people precious to him in that guild. "I want to know all there is to know about grimoire heart before we leave. I don't want basic stuff, I wanna know things like their S class wizards, their master, and maybe even a few reasons why they'd attack Tenrou." He turned to everyone else, clearing his throat. "I don't want to help them any more than the rest of you, but Mira has family there, and it'd be a pain if they were killed by some dark mages who think they're all hot shit because they control a few dark guilds. So, we leave in two hours, get anything and everything together that you'll need. This is the only time we'll bail them out." Natsu clicked his tongue, not liking his decision. "Mest, if that's even your name, I want you to go back to Tenrou and tell them to hold out for two hours. Wendy, Lexi. Can I ask that you go with them, so we can set up our way home?" Wendy nodded, she knew that none of them wanted to do this, but they had to. Lexi didn't know what was going on, but her big brother had just asked her for help, so she wouldn't let him down.

"Don't look so sad about it, if we show both Grimoire Heart and Fairy Tail up, then won't we be the strongest guild in Fiore?"

That got everyone's blood pumping. They'd show those fairies that they didn't need them, by showing them up in a fight. Mest and Wendy were about to leave, but Natsu gave Wendy his scarf.

"We won't be apart long, but keep this with you. The look on everyone's face will be priceless when they find out it was Wendy who helped them out."

The trio of mages teleported away, leaving everyone else to get ready for the inevitable battle.

* * *

-Tenrou Island-

The trio touched down on Tenrou Island, just in time to see the Grimoire Heart airship appear overhead and a wave of people jumping out of the ship.

"Lexi, Do you mind accompanying this man to the rest of the fairies? If anyone asks who you are, say you're a Dragneel and you want to see Lisanna and Elfman quick, because those are the only people we're here for." Wendy looked deadly serious, as if there was any room to go against her.

"Okay, Wendy-nee, but if anything happens to you or the scarf, I'll pummel you later for making Natsu-nii worry!" Lexi yelled as she skated off, freezing the floor underneath her. She followed a scent that was like Pine wood and syrup. She found what seemed to be an old man, about half the size of her, lying on the floor in pain.

She approached cautiously, but jumped when he spoke. "So, another one of Grimoires goons come to finish me off? It's a shame that your master couldn't do it himself."

"Eh? Natsu-nii, kill a defenceless old man? He does that nowadays...?" she pondered, not realising that the old man heard her.

"Wait child, did you say 'Natsu'? You mean he actually accepted my request for help? Who are you?"

"I'm… a Dragneel, do you know where Lisanna and Elfman are? Wendy-nee told me to come find them as soon as possible…" she asked the man, who was now trying to sit up. As soon as he did however, they both heard a blood curdling scream and a body drop down from above.

"W-Wen…Wendy-nee?"

A blond man appeared in front of them with fire encasing his hands… "Oh, another puny dragon hunter was around here? To think there were two on this island, and two cute ones at that. Master Hades will have a lot of fun with both of you…"

Makarov coughed. "Run child, take Wendy with you. You need to get as far away from him as possible." He coughed again, this time blood splattering on the ground.

"No." Her eyes were filled with cold fury. "He hurt Wendy-nee. He has to pay." The air suddenly went sub-zero. _'An ice mage?'_ Makarov thought _'But she said she was a dragneel, so that can only mean…'_

" **Ice Dragon's Frozen Roar"** Lexi shouted, the air in front of her crystallizing and shattering on impact. His eyes widened, and so did his grin.

"An Ice dragon hunter? This might actually be entertaining. I am one of the seven sins of purgatory. My name is Zancrow. Let's see if you can keep up with me, _Dragon slayer_." He launched himself forward toward her, only to be met with a wall of ice.

"Ice? I'll just melt it!" He tried to light his hands alight again, but it didn't work. He stared at his hands, while trying to activate his magic. He then heard her voice.

"Even gods have trouble lighting fires in sub-zero temperatures…" her voice bounced off the walls of ice, making it seem like she was all around him.

"How did you…?"

"Your god should have taught you that… or is it you were taught by a human, which would explain why your fire would be black." Her voice continued to echo all around him.

"Oh well, Natsu-nii would be mad if I was playing with my prey again, so I better make this quick… although he did hurt Wendy, so I guess he wouldn't mind that much…"

This taunting and frozen torture carried on for another two hours, much to the chagrin of the Fire god slayer below. He was still dumbfounded as to how a little cold air could stop his magic completely, but he was a lot angrier… almost angry enough to catch fire…

She decided to end the game she was playing as she could smell the rest of her guild moving her way, it wouldn't be long now before the entirety of the Slayers' Pride guild would be here.

She appeared in front of him, seemingly out of the ice wall that she had made, her leg encased in in her element. "Let's see if this works…" she said to herself, imitating Wendy's movements from earlier

" **Ice Dragon's Talon"** she screamed as she kicked him square in the jaw, sending him spinning.

"That's it girlie, I've had enough of you and your games!" Zancrow screamed as everything erupted into black flame. Lexi, who wasn't expecting him to be able to do this, screamed as she was burnt. He looked completely pissed.

As Lexi lay there, trying to get up, Zancrow put his foot on her head and started grinding her face in the dust while cackling. "Do you understand now girl; Grimoire heart cannot be stopped! Not by Fairy tail, not by anyone! Ahahaha!"

There was a roar in the distance… one that spelled doom for anyone that heard it…

"I'm not from fairy tail… And that roar, that was my guild master… You're in for a world of pain now…" she said as she passed out from the heat, even with her ice covering her.


End file.
